Cookies on the Bupa website

We use cookies to help us understand ease of use and relevance of content. This ensures that we can give you the best experience on our website. If you continue, we'll assume that you are happy to receive cookies for this purpose. Find out more about cookies

Cervical artery dissection

Cervical artery dissection is a condition where you have a tear in the wall of one of the large blood vessels (arteries) in your neck. This can cause blood clots to develop, which can affect the blood supply to your brain and lead to a stroke. Cervical artery dissection is one of the most common causes of stroke in people under the age of 50.

Details

Your arteries carry blood from your heart to the rest of your body. You have two pairs of large arteries on each side of your neck. There are the two carotid arteries and the two vertebral arteries, and they carry blood to your brain. The diagram below show one of the carotid arteries and one of the vertebral ones, as the illustration is a side view.

If you have cervical artery dissection, the wall of one of these arteries has torn. This is more likely to happen in your carotid arteries than in the vertebral arteries. Once a tear develops, blood can stick to it and grow into a clot, which can block the artery where the tear is. Or, part or all of the clot can break off and block the artery further up.

If an artery becomes blocked by a blood clot, this can cause a stroke. When you have a stroke, the blood supply to your brain is affected and this damages brain cells. A stroke is a brain injury and, depending on where in your brain the stroke happens, it could affect your movement, sensation, speech, vision and thinking.

Your doctor will ask about your symptoms and examine you. Your doctor will also need to know about any recent injury or activity that may have caused a tear in one of the cervical arteries.

There are several different tests that can help to show a cervical artery dissection. You may have one or more of the following.

An MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan or a CT scan. These create detailed images of your head and neck. Both scans are sometimes done with angiogram. During an angiogram, dye is injected into your arteries. This helps your doctor to see them in more detail.

An ultrasound scan of your arteries. This is a scan that uses sound waves to produce an image of your blood vessels.

Treatment for cervical artery dissection usually aims to prevent complications, such as a stroke, while your artery heals. This usually takes about three to six months.

Medicines

If you’re diagnosed and can get medical help quickly (that is, within three to four-and-a-half hours), you may have a treatment called thrombolysis. Your doctor will give you a medicine called a fibrinolytic that is injected into a vein. This breaks up blood clots, but it can only be given in the first few hours after an injury.

You will probably be asked to take medicines to prevent blood clots. There are two main types:

anticoagulants, such as heparin and warfarin

antiplatelet medicines, such as aspirin or clopidogrel

Surgery

If you can’t take anticoagulant or antiplatelet medicines or if the medicines aren’t working, your doctor may suggest an operation. An angioplasty and stenting procedure can help to prevent blood clots forming. But this isn’t a standard option and may only be offered in rare circumstances.

Prompt access to quality care

From treatment through to aftercare, with Bupa health insurance we aim to get you the help you need, as quickly as possible. Find out more today.

Cervical artery dissection can be caused by sudden movement of your neck or an injury to your neck, including:

high-impact injuries, such as from a car crash

minor neck injuries, such as from doing judo or yoga

neck strain from activities such as overhead painting

stretching, coughing, sneezing or vomiting

There is some debate about whether chiropractic treatment can cause cervical artery dissection – please see our FAQ ‘Chiropractic treatment’ about this.

Cervical artery dissection can also be caused by an underlying condition that leads to weakening of your blood vessels. This includes inherited conditions such as Ehlers–Danlos syndrome and Marfan syndrome.

Viral infections are also thought to potentially increase the risk of cervical artery dissection.

Cervical artery dissection can also just happen, without any obvious injury or underlying condition.

If you have a cervical artery dissection, you may develop complications. Some people develop headaches, which can last on and off for years. Others go on to have a stroke, which can sometimes cause severe disability and be life-threatening.

Cranial nerve palsies are also a complication of cervical artery dissection. A palsy is caused if a cranial nerve close to your carotid artery is compressed (squashed). Palsy can affect your eyes and tongue causing drooping eyelid and weakness of your tongue.

Research studies looking at whether or not spinal manipulation, as in chiropractic therapy, cause cervical artery dissection haven’t found a clear answer.

An association has been suggested between spinal manipulation and cervical artery dissection, particularly concerning the vertebral artery. But experts don’t know if it was because of the treatment or because the patient already had cervical artery dissection.

For example, if you develop cervical artery dissection, you could develop neck pain and go to a chiropractor for treatment. Or you could develop cervical artery dissection after treatment for neck pain. This means it’s not possible to know whether the cervical artery dissection was there before treatment or whether it developed because of the treatment.

Chiropractic treatment is regulated by law. Chiropractors must be properly trained and registered with the General Chiropractic Council. Before you have any treatment with a chiropractor, check that they are registered and ask any questions you have.

Warfarin prevents blood clots by increasing the time it takes the blood to clot. This is often referred to as ‘blood thinning’. However, sometimes the dose of warfarin isn’t quite right and your blood can become too 'thin'. This can cause bleeding. For this reason, you’ll need to be carefully monitored when you take warfarin.

The monitoring is done by regular blood tests to check how quickly your blood is clotting. The tests measure INR (international normalised ratio). How often the tests are done depends on what the results are.

Always read the patient information leaflet that comes with your medicine. If you have any questions, ask your pharmacist or GP for advice.

Cervical artery dissection can sometimes be caused by small injuries, such as a sudden movement in your neck or having your neck in an unusual position. So, lying back with your neck resting on a sink at the hairdressers could possibly cause an injury that might lead to cervical artery dissection. However, there are very few reported cases where this has or might have happened.

We’d love to know what you think about what you’ve just been reading and looking at – we’ll use it to improve our information. If you’d like to give us some feedback, our short form below will take just a few minutes to complete. And if there's a question you want to ask that hasn't been answered here, please submit it to us. Although we can't respond to specific questions directly, we’ll aim to include the answer to it when we next review this topic.

About our health information

At Bupa we produce a wealth of free health information for you and your family. We believe that trustworthy information is essential in helping you make better decisions about your health and care. Here are just a few of the ways in which our core editorial principles have been recognised.

Information Standard

We are certified by the Information Standard. This quality mark identifies reliable, trustworthy producers and sources of health information.

HONcode

What our readers say about us

But don't just take our word for it; here's some feedback from our readers.

“Simple and easy to use website - not alarming, just helpful.”

“It’s informative but not too detailed. I like that it’s factual and realistic about the conditions and the procedures involved. It’s also easy to navigate to areas that you specifically want without having to read all the information.”

“Good information, easy to find, trustworthy.”

Meet the team

Andrew ByronHead of health content and clinical engagement

Dylan Merkett – Lead Editor – UK Customer

Nick Ridgman – Lead Editor – UK Health and Care Services

Natalie Heaton – Specialist Editor – User Experience

Pippa Coulter – Specialist Editor – Content Library

Alice Rossiter – Specialist Editor – Insights

Laura Blanks – Specialist Editor – Quality

Michelle Harrison – Editorial Assistant

Our core principles

All our health content is produced in line with our core editorial principles – readable, reliable, relevant – which are represented by our diagram.

Click to open full-size image

The ‘3Rs’ encompass everything we believe good health information should be. From tweets to in-depth reports, videos to quizzes, every piece of content we produce has these as its foundation.

Readable

In a nutshell, our information is jargon-free, concise and accessible. We know our audience and we meet their health information needs, helping them to take the next step in their health and wellbeing journey.

Reliable

We use the best quality and most up-to-date evidence to produce our information. Our process is transparent and validated by experts – both our users and medical specialists.

Relevant

We know that our users want the right information at the right time, in the way that suits them. So we review our content at least every three years to keep it fresh. And we’re embracing new technology and social media so they can get it whenever and wherever they choose.

Our accreditation

Here are just a few of the ways in which the quality of our information has been recognised.

The Information Standard certification scheme

You will see the Information Standard quality mark on our content. This is a certification programme, supported by NHS England, that was developed to ensure that public-facing health and care information is created to a set of best practice principles.

It uses only recognised evidence sources and presents the information in a clear and balanced way. The Information Standard quality mark is a quick and easy way for you to identify reliable and trustworthy producers and sources of information.

Certified by the Information Standard as a quality provider of health and social care information. Bupa shall hold responsibility for the accuracy of the information they publish and neither the Scheme Operator nor the Scheme Owner shall have any responsibility whatsoever for costs, losses or direct or indirect damages or costs arising from inaccuracy of information or omissions in information published on the website on behalf of Bupa.

British Medical Association (BMA) patient information awards

We have received a number of BMA awards for different assets over the years. Most recently, in 2013, we received a 'commended' award for our online shared decision making hub.

Contact us

If you have any feedback on our health information, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us via email: healthinfo@bupa.com. Or you can write to us:

This information was published by Bupa's Health Content Team and is based on reputable sources of medical evidence. It has been reviewed by appropriate medical or clinical professionals. Photos are only for illustrative purposes and do not reflect every presentation of a condition.

The information contained on this page and in any third party websites referred to on this page is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice nor is it intended to be for medical diagnosis or treatment. Third party websites are not owned or controlled by Bupa and any individual may be able to access and post messages on them. Bupa is not responsible for the content or availability of these third party websites. We do not accept advertising on this page.

For more details on how we produce our content and its sources, visit the 'About our health information' section.